The alarm went off at 7.45. I blearily packed up my gear and
got to breakfast with my bag at 8.30. We got on the buses to go back to the
port. The boat was there when we arrived so we grabbed some snacks and jumped
on. John tried to get us the swanky lounge area and managed it after a few
intense conversations with the staff. I didn’t like it in the lounge as the
boat was moving noticeably even in port and it was sickeningly smoky, so I told
the girls and went up to the deck.
The deck was hot, but the trip was fun. I’d had enough sun
after a few hours and wrapped my sarong around my shoulders to fend it off. John
kept fussing with his shoulders being in the sun, so I offered him my sarong,
which he turned his nose up at. An hour later after a visit below decks he
appeared with Jacinta’s hot pink sarong wrapped around his shoulders. We told
him there were butterflies on it. He wasn’t impressed and asked me to swap him.
I didn’t want the butterflies either.
Later as we drew level with the mainland John asked me to
stand up and pointed out Poseidon’s Temple
on top of a hill. It was too far away to see any details except a white blob, but
it was a nice thought anyway. Everyone left me on the deck when it got cool
around 7pm but were back within half an hour because it was horribly smoky down
there and someone said the boat was rocking much more. The sunset was lovely –
almost nicer than the one at Ia.
The boat was to dock at
Ios, Naxos and Paros. The girls came up with
John before long to join me and we found a spot behind the stack so it wasn’t
as noisy or windy. John sat with us for most of the journey – he brought me his
Lonely Planet guide and compared it to my photocopies, deciding it was the same
edition. We talked about where I should go in Peloponnese, and he suggested Corinth, Nafplio, Mycenae,
Epidavros, Monemvasia, Kalamata and Olympia.
These were pretty much the places that had appealed to me in my quick reading
of the chapter. He needed to be back in Athens the next day so suggested we
meet for coffee so he could make some calls and check things out for me.
The girls went down to get some lunch and Lisa offered to get
me something. Lisa and I listened to music on her mp3 player. I went below
decks later and saw a lot of nomadic types and backpackers lying on sheets on
the stair landings. It really did look like a refugee boat. Lisa started to
collect tips for John from everyone. Reportedly, the Gap Years put in nothing,
which made me furious, considering how much time and effort John had spent in
both entertaining them and looking out for them.
It was finally time for me to go below decks for good, and I
found a seat in the lounge and coped with the motion of the boat without even
noticing it. I think I had my ‘sea legs’ by now. We got into port at about 8.30
and got a bus back to the hotel. We got room keys, took a group picture, Lisa
gave John the tips and he talked about extra nights’ accommodation etc. I asked
John about seeing a show at one of the amphitheatres and he asked the hotel guy
about what was on. We were told that the season at Epidavros was finished but
there was a music and dancing show at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus the next
night. John gave me the address and number for the Odeon box office and took my
number to ring/text me the next day.
We all went out for various late dinners. We girls went to a
rather average taverna, while everyone else went for gyros. Everyone came back
for a drink on the roof. The downside about finding my sea legs on the boat is
that the land starts to sway. I had to be careful where I looked to avoid
landsickness. Jacinta and Michelle went to bed and we said goodbye to them as
they were leaving early the next morning. Lisa, Carine and I went to bed at
about midnight.
No comments:
Post a Comment